Rhys Jones

In 2007 Rhys was shot dead, this is the story of how his family and a community coped with the tragic loss and how his killer was finally caught

On August 22, 2007, an innocent schoolboy was shot dead as he walked home from football training.

That boy was 11-year-old Rhys Jones, a much-loved Everton fan caught in the crossfire of warring gangs that brought misery to the streets of Liverpool.

The tragic events of that summer evening saw the attention of the world drawn to the city.

The death of Rhys saw a community unite in grief and sparked a major criminal investigation that took months to piece together.

Here, as the tenth anniversary of Rhys’ death approaches, the ECHO looks back on the harrowing events of his death, and its aftermath.

Timeline of a tragedy

Three gunshots

At 7.28pm on August 22, 2007, three shots pierced the air of the Fir Tree pub car park in Croxteth Park.

The first bullet, fired from a .455 Smith & Wesson revolver, hit a BMW before spinning off and slamming into a blue metal container.

The second proved fatal. But not for any of the rival gang members the hooded gunman was aiming at.

It pierced schoolboy footballer Rhys’ neck, inflicting the injuries that would cause a city to mourn and spark the hunt for a child killer.

Such was the attacker’s chilling intent to do evil he fired for a third time, despite having already hit one innocent bystander.
That gunman was teenager Sean Mercer, aged just 16.

The Croxteth Crew gang member was the hooded thug caught on CCTV unloading the shots as he stood next to his push bike, aiming for his enemies from Norris Green.

As Rhys’ mum Melanie rushed to the scene and cradled her son in her arms, Mercer cycled away - fleeing the area using a now-closed footpath linking Altcross Road and the Croxteth Park estate.

Rhys was taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital where medical experts attempted to save his life.

Meanwhile Mercer’s twisted mates worked on a bid to save the shaven-headed killer’s skin.

He initially went to the home of Boy M, whose age throughout the legal proceedings meant he could not be identified. There, a cover-up plan was hatched and other gang members called.

They included Gary Kays and Melvin Coy, who drove Mercer to an industrial estate in Kirkby where his clothes were burned. He was doused in petrol to remove traces of gun residue.

By 9pm Mercer was climbing into Coy’s Ford Galaxy for the journey to his Good Shepherd Close home in Croxteth. By then Rhys’ parents had been told their precious child had lost his battle for survival.

A city unites in grief

Devastated family

Rhys' mother Melanie, father Stephen and brother Owen during a tribute at Everton

The response to Rhys’ killing was immediate and powerful.

Floral tributes mounted outside the Fir Tree pub while letters and cards of support arrived in their hundreds at the Crompton Drive home of his parents Stephen and Melanie.

Friends of the talented Fir Tree U12s player described him as a “top lad” and a “class footy player”.

A week after the tragedy Rhys’ devastated mum and dad told the ECHO of their heartbreak, revealing how each night the light would be turned on in his room, and how neither they, nor Rhys’ brother Owen, would touch the fourth slice of garlic bread that should have been designated to him.

And Stephen recalled how, in the days after Rhys’ death, a family mystery had been solved: “We wondered why we would get odd socks from Rhys in the wash all the time and now we’ve found out.

Flowers laid near the scene of the shooting

“I was in his room and on top of the wardrobe are loads of rolled up balls of socks. He would take his socks off when he got home from school, roll them into a ball and play football in his room.

“When he kicked them against the wall, they’d end up on top of his wardrobe and he was too small to reach up and get them down.

“But he was never too small for us. He thought he was small but he was just average to us.”

Beyond the walls of their home - beyond the streets of the Croxteth Park estate - the city was in mourning too.

Stars of Rhys’ beloved Everton, led by then captain Phil Neville, visited the makeshift shrine at the scene of the shooting, adding the club’s own tribute - a blue and white football made of flowers along with signed boots and shirts.

Flowers at Liverpool Cathedral for Rhys' funeral

Stephen, Melanie and Owen were welcomed to Goodison Park for the side’s match with Blackburn then, days later, Z-Cars was played at Anfield as Liverpool united for Rhys.

On September 6 he was laid to rest following a funeral that saw 2,500 people pay tribute inside Liverpool Cathedral and a further 800 gather outside.

Earlier the funeral cortege had passed crowds of mourners outside Goodison Park on its way to the cathedral.

Little forensic evidence was left at the scene and no witness had a clear glimpse of Mercer’s face.

The man tasked with leading the investigation was former Detective Superintendent Dave Kelly, whose team worked from 7am to 2am daily to try and crack the case.

In the days after the shooting the police appealed for help from the public. Those calls for assistance gathered pace as progress was made.

On September 26 a CCTV image of Mercer on his bike was released to the public before grainy footage captured just seconds before the attack was played, alongside an appeal from Rhys’ parents, on Crimewatch.

More than 20 people had been arrested in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, but a wall of silence greeted detectives as residents feared for their safety and Mercer’s associates closed ranks around him.

The recovery of the murder weapon from the home of a boy who, scared of Mercer, had hidden it away in the hours after the killing was a crucial moment in the case - as was evidence gathered by recording devices planted by police to capture the conversations of suspects.

A series of dawn raids signalled that police felt they had made the progress they desired.

Thirteen people were questioned after being arrested over two days in April 2008. On April 16 it was confirmed a 17-year-old - Mercer - had been charged with Rhys’ murder.

James Yates, Gary Kays, Melvin Coy, Nathan Quinn and a 16-year-old boy, were accused of assisting an offender.

Yates was also charged with possessing a prohibited firearm while Dean Kelly was accused of assisting an offender and possessing two firearms and ammunition.

Swaggering killer showed no remorse

The court case

Sean Mercer

For more than 10 weeks Rhys’ mum and dad had to endure the torment of watching the arrogant killer of their beloved son swagger into court.

Always the last of the seven on trial to enter the dock, Mercer would strut in with his head held high and scan the courtroom - knowing all eyes were on him.

Day after day, Mercer chatted with his co-defendants, his smirks and sniggers with James Yates and Dean Kelly sometimes breaking out into fits of laughter.

Dean Kelly

At other times the slight teenager would lean his head back so he could chat with self-confessed Croxteth Crew comrade Nathan Quinn.

Even during periods of restraint the group never failed to show their disdain – fidgeting, yawning, stretching.

In stark contrast to the behaviour of those suspects, Stephen and Melanie watched on in calm, solemn respect for the court process.

Gary Kays

Flanked by police liaison officers, they attended every day of the trial.

It was as prosecutor Neil Flewitt QC began to describe her son’s final moments that Mrs Jones could no longer control the tears.

At first she quietly wiped them away.

James Yates

But as Mr Flewitt announced to the hushed court he was going to play a CCTV clip showing the footage of Rhys being shot, the schoolboy’s mum departed the room.

Stephen remained inside – staring intently at the large television screen as the haunting footage was played.

Mercer’s parents were among those often in the public gallery.

Melvin Coy

It was that gallery that was regularly the subject of shouts from the suspects demanding calls and visits.

Out of sight the group’s antics were still felt by those in court as shouting and swearing continued after they were led out - with one female guard even thought to have been threatened.

One of the few occasions when the defendants were silenced was when James Yates was left shame-faced as a prison worker recounted his weeping confession days after being taken into custody.

Nathan Quinn

No longer laughing and joking Yates stared at the floor as the man described his breakdown.

Mercer refused to take the witness stand to explain himself even after his alibi for the night had been disproved.

The jury rejected his lies and found him guilty of murder on December 15. The then 18-year-old was sentenced to life with a minimum of 22 years behind bars.

Yates, 20, of Dodman Road, Croxteth; Kays, 26, of Mallard Close, Croxteth Park; and Coy, 25, of Abbeyfield Drive, Quinn, 18, of Wicket Close, both Croxteth, and a 16-year-old boy, were convicted of assisting an offender.

Yates was also convicted of possessing a prohibited firearm, a Smith and Wesson .455 revolver used to murder Rhys.

Kelly, 17, of Sword Walk, Croxteth, was convicted of assisting an offender and possessing two firearms and ammunition.

Our pain will only fade, it will never go away

A decade later

It is nearly 10 years since Rhys’ death, which sparked a strengthened determination to crackdown on gun crime.

The tragedy also sparked the launch of a charity - Liverpool Unites - by the ECHO, which raised £100,000 to build a community centre in Croxteth.

The Rhys Jones Complex was launched in August 2013 and helps hundreds of children every week.

All but Mercer have been released from prison for their roles in the aftermath of Rhys’ death. Coy was jailed again for handling stolen goods in 2015. Mercer - who at one point launched an appeal against his sentence - has been both a victim and offender in attacks behind bars.

Melanie and Stephen have played a role in the TV production set to retell their son’s death and the aftermath.

Speaking ahead of the opening episode of Little Boy Blue on ITV, they said their support of the drama “stemmed principally from a desire to honour our son, Rhys”.

They added: “It is very important to us, and our other son, Owen, to keep his memory alive and for people to understand how important he was to us.

“But beyond this we saw this as an opportunity to let the public see what happens to a family like ours in a situation like this.

“We wanted to show how the pressures we were placed under, the huge weight of grief thrust upon us, the endless waiting, not knowing if we would get justice for Rhys, can tear a family apart.

“We spoke very openly to the programme makers about what we went through because we wanted to let Sean Mercer and the others involved in Rhys' murder know that our sentence never ends.

“Our pain will only fade, it will never go away... if we can get people to understand this, and if by showing what we went through we can help other people who might find themselves in the future put in the same, horrendous, position that we were, then this will have all been worthwhile.”

After a year that saw shootings on Merseyside dramatically rise, their touching words are particularly poignant.